


What happens next?

by dragonscanbebeaten



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Clint helps, Fluff, Gen, Or Parent, also this is confusing, at tony, banner just laughs, but it's okay we'll work with it, just a cute father tony stark vibe, this is my first fic, tony doesn't know how to adult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 01:37:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13156428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonscanbebeaten/pseuds/dragonscanbebeaten
Summary: You, the reader, are adopted by the one and only Tony Stark after your parents are killed in an accident involving an attack on New York that the Avengers had stopped. You and your partner in crime decide to prank the school to get back at the bullies who torment you. Jokes, smiles and tears aheadI'm sorry I'm really bad at summaries.My tumblr is @yourfriendlyneighbourhoodauthor Come say hi :)





	1. Chapter 1

“Y/N!”  
“Get out of here!”  
“No! I won’t leave you!”  
“Y/N please! Please baby, go! Please!”  
“No! No!”

“No! no no no no!” Your eyes flung open, you sat up straight in your bed, sheets all over the place, tangled in your legs from your thrashing. Tears fell freely down your face as you sobbed, heaving in gasps of air. Your hands were on your mouth, trying to stifle your gasps as you crawled to the head of your bed, curling into a ball. The room was dark but you could faintly see the sun slowly waking up from it’s sleep. You had often had these nightmares after the accident and you still couldn’t sleep. It had been months since your parents had died. 

It had been an accident really, but that didn’t stop you from laying all the blame on yourself. The Avengers had been fighting some new super villain trying to take over New York, and an explosion had broken the fortifications of your apartment block. 

The screams of your parents as the roof fell on them were still fresh in your mind as if it had happened yesterday. You had screamed as the Avengers had pulled you from the wreckage, unwrapping your arms from the cold bodies of your parents. That day was the end of your life, the life you had had before. Now you were here in, arguably, the best place in New York, Stark Towers. 

There was no other family to take you, you had none. You had no one anymore. 

You often saw the Avengers though. They all smiled at you and engaged in small talk, but behind the pleasantries, all you could see was pity. That was the thing that you hated, you didn’t deserve their pity, you didn’t deserve anything. You weren’t special, you were no one. Tony Stark didn’t seem to think so, he said you were pretty smart for someone your age, hell almost as smart as he was when he was that young. 

He had offered to take you in and since there was no where else for you to go, you had been moved to the billionaire’s house, or rather, kingdom. Tony was still waiting for the adoption papers to go though. Any other kid would have been thrilled, but you weren’t anything. You hadn’t felt anything since the last shovel of dirt was thrown on top of your parents coffins, housing their cold, lifeless bodies. 

The sun rose over the buildings, painting the sky with fire. You walked out into the hallway, empty as usual and headed for the kitchen. You sat down quietly with your breakfast and ate as you read your favorite book, one of your only possessions from your old house. You chewed as you flipped the pages, skimming it as you knew it so well. You heard footsteps coming closer and you looked up to find Tony walking into the room, smiling proudly as he put down a file with papers inside it.

“Guess what kiddo.”

You looked down at your book, ignoring Tony. He coughed awkwardly and continued.

“Your uh, your adoption papers, they uh, they went through. You’re officially a Stark!” Bruce walked in a smiled at you.

“Pretty good huh, Y/N?” You sighed, got up and left the room, heading to your room. Just because Tony was now your guardian, didn’t make him your father, at all.  
Tony looked at Bruce. 

“What happens next? I feel like I’m missing something.”

Bruce laughed as he patted Tony on his shoulder, watching you walk away.

“What happens next is you gotta raise a teenager. Good luck Tony.” Bruce walked away, already going to find Clint to see how long it was until Tony asked for help.

\-----------------------------------------

“Don’t do this to yourself.”

You scoffed and continued your work. 

“It’s not yours, so you can’t tell me what to do.” Tony sighed and moved in front of you, blocking your view of the mirror in your bathroom. 

“I don’t think that dying your hair F/C is such a good idea Y/N, what will your school say?”

“Look, just because you think it looks weird doesn’t mean that it is automatically bad everywhere else, you may be a billionaire but you don’t decide what the law is you know.” You continued to put the dye in your hair, finishing that and wrapping it up to wait for the timer to count down. You stood up and went into the common area, followed by Tony complaining all the way with 

It looks tacky.  
I don’t like the colour.  
You could have at least gone to a proper salon to get it done. 

You turned around and put your hands up. “Enough! It’s done! Shut up about it and leave me be.” 

“Hey, you can’t talk to me like that!”

“Says who? You?”

“Uh duh. Tone down the attitude or-“

“Or what! Huh! You’re not my Father!” Tony looked a bit taken back and his expression softened a little. “I know that Y/N I just-“

“Oh you know that do you? Then stop trying to act like him! You’re not him!” You walked past Tony and slammed your door shut. You slid against the door until you hit the ground and closed your eyes.

Clint popped his head around the corner and approached Tony. “Need any help? You know, I could see if I could talk to her?” Tony sighed, he knew all about the bet that Clint had with Bruce but he really needed this. Bruce would have to suck it up and wear those hawkeye boxers.

There was a knock on your door and you stood up, opening it slowly to see who it was. “Good, I thought it would be Tony.”

“Thanks?” Clint walked into your room, taking in the sparse decoration and bare walls. It looked like no one lived here if you ignored the unmade bed and food wrappers lying around. The bed bounced as you sat on it. “What’s up?” You looked at the timer on your phone as it went off, heading to the bathroom to wash off the dye. Clint followed, watching as you leant over the sink to turn on the water. 

“You want me to…?”

“Yes, please.” Clint stepped over and began to rinse your hair out. 

“Tony doesn’t like it.”

“Yeah.” Clint turns on the warm water. “I heard all, that.” You stayed quiet, closing your eyes. “You know, maybe you should try to listen to him a bit more, he is trying you know.”

Your eyes shot open and you sat up, grabbing a towel to dry your hair off. 

“He put you up to this didn’t he?” You scoffed as you walked out of the bathroom. 

“I can’t believe it. No you know what? I totally can, none of you understand. You all tell me that it’s fine and that you’re here for me and that it’ll get better but it won’t! It feels like everything is getting worse! And..I just.” Your words were getting more and more ragged as sobs took over your speech. “I just….nothing….is getting…..better……and I…..just…..wan…..want….my..” You broke off as Clint enveloped you in his arms as you let go, your sobs wracking your body as you let everything go. Clint rubbed your back and whispered to you.

“Hey, hey. shhh. shhhh. I’m here. I’m here for you. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m here. Shhhh.” You shook your head as you cried.

“Hey, Y/N, listen to me. Listen to me. Okay? Just, look at me. Come on. Y/N.”

You lifted your head to look at Clint, wiping tears from your eyes with the back of your hand. 

“Listen, I’m sorry about your parents ok? But you have to listen to me. It will get better. I know it doesn’t feel like it but it will. You’re always going to feel this way, but it will fade and it won’t always hurt this much okay? Trust me. And we’re all here for you. I know, we’re not your parents, but we are trying. And I know Tony is the most.”  
You let out a ragged breath and gave Clint another quick hug and smiled softly at him.  
“Thanks Clint. It’s hard, but, thanks.”

“Anytime, Y/N, anytime.”  
You both let out a small laugh.

“Now, how about we continue with this dyeing business?”

“Sounds like a plan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter update but you go back to school and there is not a very welcoming crowd.

”What do you mean no?” You glared at the teacher, Miss Ruth, who was sitting calmly at her desk.  
“I mean, no, you can’t change classes just because you feel like it.”

“It’s not just because I feel like it I…please Miss, isn’t there anything you can do?”

“I’m sorry Miss L/N, but you just have to deal with it, unless there’s something you want to tell me?” You looked down and picked at your nails absentmindedly in your pockets. “No.”

“Nothing at all?” Miss Ruth looked at you with soft eyes. Shaking your head you replied quietly.

“Nothing.”

You sighed as you exited her office, heading to your locker. You had had the same locker for almost all of your highschool years and you knew it very well. Which is why when you saw it, you knew something was off. You looked around to see some students smirking at you from afar, waiting for whatever was going to happen. You cautiously opened the locker. 

Your stomach twisted and you felt sick as you slammed it and ran to the bathroom. You locked a stall and sat down on the seat of the toilet, taking deep breaths to calm yourself down. You could feel your food coming up and you leant over the toilet, emptying your stomach of that mornings breakfast. 

Hot tears were rolling down your cheek and you stifled sobs. The inside of your locker had been filled with pictures of your family with the words killer written in big, block letters. You knew who had done it, everyone knew who had done it. Stacy Bryers was the ‘popular girl’ in school. She was a blonde masterpiece with a tan body and looks that could kill. She also had a scheming mind that kept her on top of the food chain of high school. 

Ever since you had wandered into Stacy’s path, she had taken a notice of you, and not in a good way. At first it was subtle, dirty looks, quiet insults here and there, but it escalated into vile ‘pranks’ that were humiliating and cruel. You didn’t know why but Stacy enjoyed making you suffer. No one had come close to you since you had been singled out by Stacy and her ‘posse’. No one except for your best friend Charlie. He was the one who kept you going when things were bad. He was also the one who had put itching powder in the girls deodorant that one time. 

You heard your phone buzzing, probably Charlie wondering why you weren’t in calculus. You checked and his name and photo lit up your screen with the words.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------

C: You okay?

Y/N: Just Stacy again…

C: That bitch better lay off my best friend or someone’s gonna die

Y/N: Thanks Charlie, but I don’t think murder is the best option

C: Why not? No one would know…

Y/N: Pretty sure you’re not a serial killer who knows how to pull off a successful murder

C: You don’t know my life

Y/N: I’ve known you since we were 2, pretty sure I would have found out by now

C: Yeah, yeah, you win. Miss Fletcher asked where you were, it’s like she thinks I’m telepathically connected to you or something.

Y/N: What did you say?

C: I said that you were in the nurses office, feeling sick. So well done me.

Y/N: Thanks C, I owe you one

C: Yeah you do. Shit gotta go, Fletcher’s coming round. Meet you later

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------

You went to the sink and washed your face, rinsing your mouth out. You looked at yourself in the mirror and sighed, today was not one of your good days. You just wanted to curl up and ignore the world but the wonders of life were here to destroy that dream. You sighed and walked back to your locker, making sure no one was around. The lockers were empty as usual, it was in the middle of the period. 

You opened your locker and dragged one of the bins over and put all the photos in it, crumpling them up and throwing them in. You rubbed the marker and smudged it till you couldn’t read it anymore. When you were done you went to the oval and sat on the benches, waiting for the period to be over. Unfortunately Stacy and her posse had also decided to skip class. You tried to shrink away but it was too late, they had seen you and no one else was around. 

Stacy sauntered over to you, a cocky expression on her face that told you she knew that you were alone. No one was coming to help you out this time. You stood up as she stopped in front of you.

“I heard you were vomiting in the bathrooms earlier, sick are we?”

Brianna, one of the two other girls snickered, her black curls bouncing. You kept your expression neutral.

“No, just disgusted. I had thought of you.”

“Hey you-“ Brianna started forward but was stopped by Stacy’s hand on her shoulder.

“Did you like the new decoration to your locker? I thought it suited you. After all, you did let your parents die.” You clenched your jaw as you stepped forward, you could feel anger boiling inside of you, fighting for dominance.

“Don’t you fucking dare Stacy. If you mention my parents like that ever again, I’ll kill you.”

“I’d like to see you try. You see, here’s the thing, Y/N, I know how to get to you, I know your weaknesses whereas you? You have nothing on me. So go ahead, take me down.” Stacy was so close to you and the anger gave one final push before taking over. Your hands shot out and pushed Stacy backwards, causing her to stumble, falling to the ground. Jess, the third girl stormed forward and before you could protect yourself, your head was jerked to the right as you were punched. You hit the ground and felt a kick to your stomach, then your ribs.

“Stop.” Stacy’s voice was loud, commanding, but still calm. Your hands were still protecting you face. 

“Next time you do that, L/N, you won’t get off with just a few bruises.” Jess gave one final kick before following Stacy back to the building. 

You lay on the ground for what felt like forever, curled up, too afraid to move. You dragged yourself up after a while and made your way to the nurses office, already thinking up a plausible excuse for the bloody cut on your cheek. You winced when you felt it and bit your lip to keep from crying. What was Tony going to say to this? You didn’t want him to find out, but when he did you were in for one hell of an interrogation.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

You walked out of school as quick as you could, not bothering to wait for Charlie. That didn’t matter though because you heard someone running behind you and soon enough, Charlie was walking beside you. His dark eyes matched his skin as he looked at you with concern.

“Hey.” You looked at the ground.

“Hey.” You walked in silence for a few minutes before Charlie sighed next to you.

“I heard what those jerks did. I can’t even describe how horrible that was.”

“Yeah.”

“Y/N, you know what they’re saying isn’t true right? You didn’t kill them. Y/N. You tried, that’s all that matters, you tried.” Your voice broke as you stopped walking and hugged Charlie tight.

“Not hard enough.” You whispered quietly, wetting his shoulder as you cried. Charlie pulled you in tighter, leading you to a bench to sit down. 

“You can’t think like that, you tried so hard that they had to pull you away Y/N, that’s how hard you tried. No one could have done anything different then what you did. Y/N, you couldn’t have saved them. I know it’s hard to hear it but you need to know. You couldn’t have. You are so brave Y/N and I am here for you. No matter what.” You sniffed and pulled back to look Charlie in the eyes.

“You promise?” He laughed, a short exhale.

“Yeah, Y/N. I promise.” You took a deep breath. 

“Thanks Charlie.”

“Hey, what are friends for? Now, down to the important business.” Charlie stood and extended a hand to you, pulling you up and slinging an arm around your shoulder. “How to kill Stacy and her group of delusional barbie dolls.” You laughed and hugged Charlie as you walked.

“I think the more important thing is how to hide this from Tony.” You said, gesturing to your plaster on your face, covering your cut.

“Oof. That’s a toughy. How about my gorgeous looks were too much for people and they got jealous, trying to punch me but they missed?” Charlie flashed a smile as you laughed.

“Yeah, right.”

“Hey! It’s totally believable. Okay okay, no need for the eye rolls. How about…ummm…ah! How about, we tell him that you just ran into a door, why didn’t you think of that?” You scoffed and shoved the curly haired boy away from you.

“I’m sure that he would believe that. ‘oh hey Y/N, what’s that? You ran into a door? Ok, totally reasonable that you wouldn’t look where you were going and since I have no idea how punches work, that it so believable, have a nice night!’ Yeah, totally gonna fall for it.” Charlie put a hand over his heart.

“Alright, Miss Sarcasm. How about you just say that you tripped instead, or you got elbowed! Yeah, just say that I elbowed you while we were running in gym or something.”

“That could work.” You sighed. “Thanks, idiot.” 

“You’re welcome, smart ass.”

You walked together in a silence that was made comfortable by the many years that you two had known each other, becoming like siblings. 

You reached the newly named Avengers Tower and hugged your friend good bye, walking slowly into the building and into the elevator. The receptionist nodded hello to you and you smiled back, watching as the doors closed, trapping you in the metal box. You had never like elevators that much.

The doors opened and you headed to your room, placing your bag near the door and changing into your favourite clothes before going to the kitchen. You smelled eggs being cooked and you breathed in deeply, finding Tony cooking when you walked in.

“Sounds like you’re breathing a whole meal there kiddo.” Tony was focused on his task and you sat down after getting some juice from the fridge.

“How was school?”

“School was fine. Not much happened.” You paused before picking the excuse that you wanted, ending up going with Charlie’s idea. “I did get elbowed by Charlie today though, in gym. He was running and then we accidentally collided and next thing I knew this happened.” You gestured vaguely to your cut and Tony turned to see. 

“Oh my god Y/N! Are you okay, why didn’t you call me! You got elbowed?! How do you get elbowed while running?”

Tony had put fingers out to touch your cheek but you waved them away.

“I dunno, it just happened. And I’m fine, it’s not as bad as it looked, the nurse took care of it.”

Tony stood back up, putting his hands on his hips. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, Tony, I’m sure. Now are you gonna take care of those eggs or do I have to stop this inevitable fire myself?” Tony spun around, swearing when he grabbed his once good looking scrambled eggs. You took this opportunity to slip away to your room. You entered and flopped onto your bed, starfish style. You looked around and sat up, pulling out your phone. You looked at nearby paint stores and printed out a map, getting up to go. You were going to change your room to your style. You had a soft smile on your face until your phone buzzed in your pocket. You pulled it out and saw that it was a text from none other than Stacy. You sighed putting it away before your mind made you pull it out again to see what it was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You open the dreaded text message. A plan is formulated for a very special school prank.

The picture that you had put as Stacy’s on your phone was a big stop sign, which didn’t seem to be working as you unlocked your phone and looked at the message, or rather, messages that Stacy had sent you. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

S: Hey, just wondering if you wanted to catch up later

You frowned, seriously confused as stared at the message before moving on, your expression slowly becoming a scowl.

S: Of course, only if your parents are okay with that

S: Oh, wait

S: Almost forgot that you killed them whoops my bad

S: Must be so hard to deal with all that

S: Anyway, gotta go, catch you later, murderer! xx

\---------------------------------------------------------

You could feel your blood boiling, typing out many anger fueled replies before deleting them all, you couldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing you all riled up, even though you knew she would be feeling pretty smug right about now. You just wanted to punch her so bad, but your parents always told you to never solve things with violence, ironic considering you live with the Avengers now. 

Tears fell shamelessly down your face and you angrily shoved your sleeve across your cheek, standing and moving towards the door. You ripped it open, slamming it shut and heading towards the elevators. The cheery ding when they opened did nothing to calm you down, neither did the fact that Thor stood in the elevator, examining Mjolnir. He looked up, smiling brightly at you as you entered the elevator, crossing your arms and trying to stop your tears from falling. 

“Hello Miss Y/N! It is a fine day, wouldn’t you say?”

“Sure,” You pressed the button for the ground floor and silently prayed that Thor wouldn’t notice your red eyes and wet cheeks.

Thankfully, he got off at the next stop and you pressed for the doors to close before he could say goodbye. You left the Avengers tower, nodding briefly to the person at the desk and rushing out into the cold afternoon as quick as you could. You walked all the way to Charlie’s house and knocked on his door. Charlie’s Mother, Amy, opened the door. She had a smock on, covered with soot from the car that she and Charlie were fixing up. 

“Oh, Y/N! Lovely to see you, come in come in. Can I get you anything?”

You shook your head, smiling softly at Amy as she closed the door behind you.

“No thanks Mrs Murel, is Charlie here?” 

“Yes, out the back. And you know that you can call me Amy,” You smiled.

Amy led you to the back of the house.

“Charlie! Y/N’s here to see you!”

You heard a bump, then cursing. Charlie came out of the garage, holding his head. You laughed. 

“Oh my God, Charlie,” Your friend glared at you, rubbing his head. Amy shook her head.

“I told you to watch out for the hood, you never do though,”

“Muuum,” Charlie groaned, pulling you to his room to escape more scolding from his mum.

“Just shout if you need anything!”

Charlie shut the door and collapsed on his bed, sighing loudly. He patted the spot next to him and you sat down. 

“What’s up?” You pulled out your phone and showed him what Stacy had written. Charlie shot up.

“What the hell!” You nodded, tears threatening to fall from your eyes. “Y/N, I’m so sorry,”

You laughed shortly, “You didn’t type that shit, the blonde nightmare did,” Your voice quivered as you spoke and Charlie pulled you in for a hug. You held on as tight as you could, burying your face in his jumper and just breathing deeply. 

“Thanks Charlie,”

“No problem bro,” You smiled at Charlie and he smirked back. “You know what this calls for right?” When you didn’t reply, Charlie went to his desk and brought back a notepad and a pen.

“Time to formulate my master plan to get back at the barbie trio and finally give them a taste of their own medicine.” You pulled the pen out of Charlie’s hand.

“No. Charlie what if we get caught or what if we get in trouble?” Charlie looked at you incredulously.

“Are you serious Y/N? You’re asking if we’ll get in trouble? After everything they’ve done to you, they are going to get what’s coming to them, curtesy of yours truly. Plus, we’ll only expose them for the horrible people that they are, that way, we won’t get in trouble.”

You thought for a few seconds before coming to a decision.

“Fine,” Charlie leapt up, “But,” You held up your finger, “Only if you promise no harming them or getting us in any trouble that would get us expelled,”

Charlie held out his hand, “On my honour as Sir Murel, I swear to you, my good friend, that I will only do ask you ask.”

You laughed, shoving Charlie away, “Shut up.”

“Nope, I’ve got revenge to plan. Sweet, sweet revenge,” Charlie laughed maniacly, pretending to be a super villain, running out of his room before you could stop him. 

“Charlie, you promised!” You ran after Charlie as he cackled loudly.

“I said on my honour! You should now by now that I have none Y/N! Were you born yesterday?”

You finally caught up to Charlie and made him sit down and plan your revenge with you, making sure that he didn’t add any death traps or humiliating pranks. Amy called you both down for dinner a little later and you sat talking about school and how you were getting on. You felt comfortable at Charlie’s house, his parents had been very supportive when yours had died. You were never going to be able to thank them enough for everything that they had done for you.

After dinner, you said goodbye and walked back to the Avenger’s tower. You exited the elevator to find a very angry looking Tony, holding a note from your teacher. Whatever it was, it was enough to make the iron man blow a gasket. You prayed that Stacy had nothing to do with it, but you know better than to believe that it didn’t. You prepared yourself for Tony’s fury and stepped out of the elevator.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find out what the note was and the plan for the prank is created.

”Hey Tony, what’s up?” You smiled half heartedly, knowing full well what was up, Tony’s anger. Tony shoved the note into your hand.

“Care to explain, Y/N?” You read Stacy’s name at the top of the note and knew that this was not going to be good. Stacy had accused you of bullying her, even claiming that she had evidence against you, from emails to phone calls, to texts. The more you read, the more you thought this must be some joke from Charlie or something. You scoffed.

“Please don’t tell me you actually believe this,” Tony raised his eyebrow, “Tony, I didn’t do any of this, Stacy is the bully here!” You shoved the note back into Tony’s hand and pushed past him, heading to your room. Tony followed close behind, clearly not convinced that you were telling the truth. You opened your laptop, phone and anything else that Stacy had managed to reach with her rampage through your life. 

Tony read through the emails and the texts. He finished reading the most recent one and turned towards you. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were hard.

“You could have told me you know,” You shook your head.

“And then what? I become the person who needs her guardian to come and save her from anything and everything. I become the girl who’s weak and who runs away with her tail between her legs whenever she gets threatened or made fun of,” Tony waved the phone in your face.

“These aren’t just you being made fun of, Y/N. These are abusive comments that could hurt you emotionally. You should have come to me,” You sighed.

“I’m sorry, I just…I didn’t - I don’t know. She was just so proud every time she hurt me. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of winning,” Tony let out a long breath. He sat down on the edge of your bed, putting his head in his hands. You heard him mumbling about how hard parenting is. You smiled.

“Does this mean that you’re not mad at me anymore?” You ran your hand through your newly dyed hair, giving Tony puppy eyes.

“Oh no, I’m still mad at you, just not for the same reason,” You groaned, waving your arms as you collapsed on the bed next to Tony. Tony put his hand on your shoulder.

“Hey,” You looked up at him, “We’ll fix this,” You smiled.

“Thanks Tony,”

\---------------------------------------------------

The next day was a Sunday. You weren’t going to be able to talk to your teacher until Monday, which gave you plenty of time to find an alternative for the prank. You were still doing it, oh yeah. But you figured you could do it as an end of year prank. After a talk with Tony, you knew that if you retaliated against Stacy you wouldn’t be much better than her.  
Still, you thought, there was no reason that she couldn’t be one of the main people in the prank. It wouldn’t provide any incriminating evidence against you, but it would give you the satisfaction of getting back at her and wiping that bloody smile off of her face.

Most of Sunday, you were just doing homework. In the afternoon, you were so tired you fell off of your chair at your desk. You jerked awake as your shoulder hit the floor with a thud. You had to cough and wipe the dust off of your tongue as you sat up. You needed coffee asap, or some other caffeinated beverage. 

Making your way to the kitchen, you entered it to find Steve and Tony deep in conversation. They were arguing about the way that Steve said milk? You shook your head in amusement and turned the coffee machine on, making a nice hot cup of liquid energy. You always loved coffee, sitting on cold days when it was raining, with a blanket around you and a cup of coffee in your hand. 

When there were rainy days with your parents, they would take you to the park and afterwards, they would make you hot chocolate. You would warm your hands up as you drank and then you would all watch movies and play games. You smiled at the memory, the dull ache in your chest returning when you thought of them. 

After making your coffee, you said goodnight to Tony and got ready for bed. You grabbed your laptop and messaged Charlie as you sat down on your bed.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Y/N: Hey, you still up?

C: Yeah, you?

You shook your head, chuckling

Y/N: Of course dumbass, how else would I be talking to you

C: I don’t know, this could be a dream

Y/N: Well it’s not, if this were a dream then I would not be sitting here alone in my bed I would have the boyfriend/girlfriend/partner of my dreams here to cuddle up with me.

C: I think that’s too good to be true

Y/N: Is that you talking about your future partner, cause that seems more reasonable

C: You wound me

C: I am wounded

Y/N: Yeah yeah, anyway 

Y/N: I have some news on the bully front

C: Did they get hit by a bus?

Y/N: No. Stacy said that I was bullying her, she even said she could prove it with text messages and emails

C: What the hell! Please tell me you ordered Thor to whack her into space or something

Y/N: I wish. Tony was pissed till I told him the truth, then he was relieved that I’m not a bully, then he was pissed that I hadn’t told him

C: I wasn’t aware that you had signed up for the iron man emotional rollercoaster

Y/N: Me neither. Anyway, Tony is going to talk to Miss Fletcher tomorrow, gonna bust Stacy

C: Finally! 

Y/N: Yeah

Y/N: Also, we’re doing the prank to the whole year now

C: But what about the barbie trio? I really wanted to get back at them!Y/N: We can still prank her as well, but like, a highlight of the whole prank. A guest appearance

C: …

C: ……

C: Fine! 

Y/N: Good

C: I better get to sleep now, don’t want to be late to school again.

Y/N: Yeah, don’t want to get your sorry self thrown in detention. Again. For the third time this month. 

C: Ok ok, I get it. Goodnight, you nightmare

Y/N: Goodnight, dumbass

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You turned your laptop off and rolled over, pulling the blankets up to your neck. Tomorrow was going to be very interesting. You woke up nice and early, getting dressed and entering the kitchen. Clint, Bruce, Steve and Natasha were away on a mission so the tower was relatively quiet. You ate breakfast while finishing some homework, grabbing coffee before leaving to go to school. 

Charlie was waiting for you outside the gates and he silently fell in step with you as you both entered the school. 

“So,” Charlie looked down at you, “What are you going to say to Miss Fletcher?”

“Tony wrote her a note to say that I didn’t do anything and he wants her to talk to him directly, which she would do anyway seeing she has a big crush on him.”

Charlie laughed, ignoring the looks that he got.

“Very true,” He put his hands on his chest mockingly, “Mr Stark oh my you’re just too hot for your own good!”

You shoved him away, “Ew! I have to see him every day, I do not need that imagery, thank you very much!” Charlie laughed.

You both reached your lockers, waiting while the other got their books. You both had maths first thing every Monday. Lucky you, Miss Fletcher was your maths teacher as well as your mentor teacher. You entered the classroom, walking straight to her with an encouraging push from Charlie and a thumbs up as he sat down. You stood right in front of her desk, placing the note on her table, her eyes narrowing slightly as you let go of the paper, letting it fall the last inch. 

“Stacy said that I bullied her but that’s not true,” Miss Fletcher’s eyes skimmed the paper, absentmindedly replying, “is that so?”

“Yes,”

“Well, if Mr Stark wants to have a meeting, we can arrange that,”

Images flashed through your mind and you had to repress a shudder. One thing was for sure, you did not want Miss Fletcher as your adoptive-step-mum-witchfromcinderellawhoeveryonehated. 

Miss Fletcher emailed Tony and you sat down next to Charlie, ready for maths. Maths was actually a subject that you rather enjoyed and you found that you were not that bad at it either, being one of the top in your class. You did not like science though, so you and Charlie would go to each other’s houses to study, you helping Charlie with maths, he helping you with science. It was a good system, one that helped you through many tests together.

Maths was over fairly quickly and you moved to english, waving to Charlie as he went to art. You were studying Macbeth, reading through the tragedy, the rise and fall of men. You couldn’t help but compare Macbeth’s death to Stacy, hoping that she would be dethroned soon. You and Charlie were meeting after school to talk about your prank. You had two weeks to get it up and running and you were confident that you could pull it off.

You found Charlie sitting at your usual spot near the back towards the exit out onto the grass area outside. You sat down and Charlie turned to you, talking as he ate his sandwich.

“Ok, so I was sitting in art, just drawing… as you do… in art because, I mean… it’s art what else are you going to do?” 

You smiled, accustomed to Charlie’s rants and off tangent conversations

“Charlie,” His mouth stopped moving at full speed, hanging slightly open as he looked at you.

“Skip to the idea,” Charlie smiled. 

“Excited are we?” You nodded, motioning with your hand for him to continue, raising your eyebrow in amusement. “Ok, so for the prank, here’s what we could do. So you know the Solstice Ball,”

You nodded. The Solstice Ball, one of the most anticipated events for the juniors and seniors of your school, was on the winter solstice. Even now, at least eight weeks before it happened, people were raving about it. Talking about dresses, and suits, and tans, and dates. You and Charlie were going together. “Going solo, together” as he put it which, you replied, was an oxymoron.

“I was thinking, we all know that the senior prank isn’t going to be allowed thanks to what happened last year with the cow. But, since this isn’t for the end of the year, they won’t expect us to prank the Ball, because, let’s face it, it’s kinda boring.”

“Okay, how are we going to prank everyone at the Ball though?” You picked up the other half of Charlie’s sandwich, raising your eyebrows, and, upon getting permission, biting into it.

“So, the hall has the central water system for fire alarms. I got the blueprints when I was helping out the secretary in his office. You remember that jello prank a few years back? Yeah. So I was thinking, we could fill the water system with jello, trip the activation switch, and boom! Jello rain,”

You laughed at Charlie’s little rain dance in his seat as he announced his plan.

“That sounds amazing Charlie,”

“Oh ho ho,” Charlie waggled his finger, “but that’s not even the best part! You know how my uncle is a cop?”

You smirked. “Yeah…”

“We can get him to come and arrest a few, ‘choice,’ students,” Charlie coughed into his hand. “Stacy,” 

“Perfect!” You gave Charlie a high five, smiling. This was going to be so much fun.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The grand finale to this story. The prank is set in motion and retribution is handed out.

It had been many late nights of planning fueled by caffeine and sugar. The Solstice Ball was finally arriving. In a couple of days the prank would be over. The plan was set. On the night, you and Charlie would enter the ball and then ‘coincidentally’, you would both go to the toilets at the same time. Here was the smart part. The school had one of those air systems with the big man sized vents. They went all around the school. In the bathrooms there were little vents that you and Charlie were going to climb through.

One could be thinking; why the hell are you both running around James Bonding this shit up when you could just walk around like normal humans. 

Well, unfortunately, with all the past pranks that had happened, even the Solstice Ball was being supervised. And by supervised, they really meant it. In every sense of the word. The doors to the rest of the school were going to be locked and there were security guards hired to walk around the perimeter of the school. Luckily, you and Charlie would already be inside but, the sprinkler system was in the boiler room. Which would be inside the school. Which was locked off. Which also couldn’t be entered from outside the school because of the guards.

So for the sake of the prank, you and Charlie were about to be turned into vent system cleaners for the night. There was so. Much. Dust.

You had picked out your outfit a few weeks before the ball, it was this F/C dress/ F/C suit that you had found at this old store. You had also been with Charlie when he had his suit fitted. It had been a birthday present from his mum. 

You walked out of your bedroom, the walls finally having been decorated with posters and pictures, and entered the common room. Tony and Charlie both smiled when you walked in.

“You look great Y/N,” Charlie hugged you.

You exhaled a nervous breath, “Thanks, Charlie,” smiling, you continued, “you look amazing too The tailer did a great job.”

Charlie did a mock twirl and curtsy, pulling a laugh from you and Tony. 

Tony stepped forward, his eyes twinkling happily. “I”m proud of you, Y/N, I know it hasn’t been easy for you, but you have been so brave and strong. And, you can’t prove that I said this, but good luck with your prank.” You and Charlie both thanked Tony. Natasha came running in with a camera and flashed you three smiling together before you could blink. Tony yelled after her and with a quick goodbye ran off in pursuit of the Black Widow. 

You and Charlie looked at each other and laughed, leaving to go to the ball. 

The theme of this year was ‘movies’ and yes, you may not have followed that theme and actually gotten an outfit from a movie. But you were pretty confident that you could improvise, should anyone ask.

Entering the school’s hall, The walls were covered with posters from the latest releases on one wall, as well as older classics on another. There was space for dancing, surrounded by tables of various colours. Red ones with hearts all over them, black and white ones with bullet casings in the middle, yellow and blue ones with smiles everywhere. The music playing was quiet, the atmosphere not at the dancing level yet. Everyone was still coming, the room slowly filling. Teachers were at stations around the room, chaperoning. You spied Miss Fletcher at the punch table, eyeing it to make sure that no one spiked it. The senior class a few years back had gotten way too out of control when one student decided to liven things up.

The opening announcement, by the lovely Stacy Bryers, just the all round angel of sucking up while simultaneously flipping all the teachers off behind their backs, was short and far from sweet in your eyes. Although, in your opinion, nothing was sweet about Stacy. You looked up from your knife, contemplating suddenly picking up knife throwing, and caught Charlie’s eyes. He pointed to his watch. You both stood up and headed to the toilets. Once you were in, you looked for the vent on the walls. It was pretty high up, but if you stood on one of the sinks, you could reach it. You had a screwdriver in your bag and the map that would lead you to the boiler room, along with a small torch. 

The problem would be if anyone needed to use the toilet, so you had to work fast. You placed your foot on the sink and placed your hand on the wall to brace yourself. You grabbed the screwdriver and began to unscrew the grate. Sweat was threatening to break out as your heart beat a mile a minute, the adrenaline pouring through your body at the thought of being caught. You heart was thumping in your head, almost masking the sound of the door opening as you unscrewed the last screw. You launched yourself to the ground just as the door opened. 

Stacy, Brianna and Jess sauntered in, laughing about some superficial joke one of them had made. You froze, shoving the screwdriver away just as they finally noticed you. Stacy’s eyes lit up, a smirk forming on her face as she placed her bag on one of the sinks, careful not to wreck her nails. 

“Fitting that you’d be in here,” Stacy remarked casually. You smiled internally at the thought of Charlie’s uncle coming later to arrest those ‘chosen few’. That was one of the things that was stopping you from launching yourself at Stacy and not the floor this time. Jaw clenched, you prayed that the grate wouldn’t come crashing down. 

You tried to think of something that would get Stacy out of the room quickly. Nada. Your brain short circuited and came up blank. Like staring down at an english test without having read the material, or when the video buffers. The barbie queen took this as a sign of weakness. Show no mercy.

“Is that outfit one of your parent’s?” she leaned in conspiratorially, “looks to me like it should have been crushed under all that rubble,” Her face belayed nothing, just that same fake smile plastered on. “Hell, if your parent’s dressed like that, maybe they should have died!” Jess and Brianna nodded in silent agreement. 

But you, you were fuming. Something inside you snapped and you stepped right up to Stacy. Surprisingly, you were not that much shorter than her, only by an inch or so. You glared at her. 

“You know what, Stacy? I’m done with this. Whatever you have against me, whatever the fuck, you think is a good excuse to torment me day in and day out, I’d love to hear it. Unless, it’s all about you as usual,” you put on a questioning expression, “is it trouble at home?” 

Stacy’s eyes flickered and you paused for the briefest moment. Shock ran through your mind before the mindless anger took over again. “Even if your house life is shit, you have no right, no right. At. All. To harass me every day. I swear to you, if you don’t fuck off, I will make your life miserable, don’t think I don’t have proof of all the things that you’ve sent me. There is still such a thing as a paper trail these days,” you smirked, “not to mention that Tony Stark is my legal guardian,”

That moment would be one for the hall of fame. You would be telling this story for years to come. The look of pure shock on Stacy’s face was the best thing that you could have ever been gifted with. If only you could have recorded it. 

Jess stepped forward menacingly, preparing to give you a makeover in the form of a black eye with the help of her fists. Before she could achieve that masterful art piece though, Stacy’s voice stopped her. Jess turned to look at her.

“She just insulted you and you want me to just leave it?” 

Stacy picked up her bag, nails long forgotten, “We have better things to do than be here with this low life,” And with that, Stacy turned on her heel and left. Soon followed by the rest of team barbie.

Seconds of silence went by before you jumped in the air, fist bumping in victory. You yelled quietly in celebration until you remembered the prank and the grate on the wall. In no time, you had removed the grate and were on your way to the boiler room. Jumping out and landing on your feet, you brushed off as much dust as you could and waited for Charlie, who arrived not a moment later.

Soon, you too had filled the water tanks with dissolvable jelly powder, turning the water a nice shade of pink. The switch for the sprinkler was marked DO NOT PRESS. Charlie held his hand above it, “Who follows those rules anyway?” You smiled as he pressed it, both of you sprinting back to the hall with a pair of keys that Charlie had managed to find in the janitors coat. 

You opened the doors to find mayhem. Everyone was either running out of the hall, running for shelter under the tables, or dancing wildly under the sugary liquid. Seems like someone did manage to spike the punch after all, judging by how well these people’s motor functions were. You turned to Charlie, “Is your uncle almost here?” He nodded, pointing to one of the open doors that lead to the car park. Faint blue and red lights were flashing outside. 

Charlie had given his uncle, Officer Murel, the profiles of Stacy, Jess and Brianna just incase they tried to run away from the ‘rain’ and not just hide under a table or something. Luckily, Stacy had realised that this was a prank and was yelling at people to remain calm, her ‘natural leadership’ emerging. More like the fear she put into people if they didn’t listen to her. You nodded to Charlie and he ran to turn the water system off just as his uncle entered the building. 

He walked up to Stacy, with two other officers that you didn’t know. He looked at her for a few moments before speaking, just as the sprinklers stopped. “Are you Stacy Bryers?” She nodded.

“Thank God you’re here officer, there’s been a prank-“  
Officer Murel interrupted her, “Yes, we can see that, but I’m here for another reason,” He stepped forward and pulled her hands into cuffs before she could protest.

“Stacy Bryers, you are under arrest for public indecency and vandalism, you have the right to remain silent, any you do or say can and will be held against you in the court of law.” Stacy’s face was bright red, the vein in her forehead popping out.

“What?! I never, I wouldn’t…What are you talking about?!” Meanwhile, the other two officers had also ‘arrested’ Jess and Brianna for the same reasons, with just about the same reactions. You were almost in tears trying to hold in your laughter at Jess’ insistance that, "her father would be so angry", and Brianna’s, "we are going to sue you so much that you won’t be able to afford a night’s meal."

Charlie came running in just at that moment and halted in front of his uncle. “Uncle Josh? Is that you? Oh I can’t believe it how are you!” They hugged and Stacy stood in shock before Charlie turned to her, “Oh yeah, this was all a prank but thanks for the footage!” He threw finger guns her way then pointed to the phone in your hand. You smiled and waved, stopping the recording before sprinting to Charlie’s car before Stacy could get the footage and delete it. 

When you were both safely away, Charlie pulled up to the curb. You both burst out cheering in joy. The prank had worked! You thought of all the times in the future that you woule be telling this story. It would never get old in your eyes.  
You hugged your best friend. “Thank you for everything, Charlie. You’ve been such an incredible help and I can’t tell you how much I love you.” Charlie smiled at your words.

“I love you too Y/N, and hey, you’ve been great as well.”

Charlie dropped you off at the Avengers tower before heading home. You stood watching him drive off before going up to your floor. 

That night you sat with the Avengers and told them everything that had happened in the prank. Everyone agreed that it had been a huge success. You all laughed when you showed them the arrest video and you found yourself in tears on the floor with Clint and Natasha.

You knew that you were still healing, and it would still take time before the scars began to fade. But in that moment, you knew that this was finally your home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
